When food donations are close to or at their expiration date, how might soup kitchens prevent food wastage and maximize on these donations to better serve their constituents?

This is the question that Isaac Farley, an Impact! Design for Social Change alumni, set out to solve for his hometown of Ogden, Utah. What he came up with was O-Town Kitchen, a program that converts nearly expired food donations into preserves, thereby extending the expiration date. Not only does this solution help cut down on non-profit organizations’ food waste, the production of these preserves also acts as a nimble employment program for people facing emergency situations, and provides an opportunity for them to earn income.

Since conceptualizing O-Town Kitchen in Impact! last summer, Isaac has made exciting new steps in its development. After securing a partnership with YCC Family Crisis Center in northern Utah, O-Town now has commercial kitchen facilities and a user group to help prototype the program. Isaac looks forward to beginning the production of his preserves in April, selling them in a donated booth at YCC’s summer food festival in June, and evaluating O-Town’s impact in September. O-Town Kitchen has also filed its Article of Incorporation and is awaiting approval in order to gain 501(c)(3) status to be an officially recognized non profit organization.

Impact! Design for Social Change would like to congratulate Isaac on his achievements, and cannot wait to follow his future progress!